Offer Me That Deathless Death

Thinking about how, whether he is conscious of it or not, Armand has already partially broken the cycle of abuse he was subjected to, simply by not turning Daniel when he was young.

The precise nature of Armand's very existence is a permanent reminder of what he was forced to live through, regardless of if he even has the ability to process the trauma in the first place. If he so much as catches his reflection out of the corner of his eye, he is reminded of the coveting and commodification of his youth and how the most innocent time of his life was weaponised against him. He is frozen there. His face looks so innocent because it creates a satisfying contrast with his actions narratively, but its also because he was. He was innocent. And that was stolen from him by selfish, greedy people who pretended their actions were out of love.

By letting Daniel go (assuming Devil's Minion era happened in the seventies), Armand protected him from this. Daniel experienced his entire youth and what it was like to age out of it without the fear of no longer having value like Armand did, and then came adulthood. He has lived to an age that Arun never could have dreamt of, that Amadeo was forced to realise, at one point, he would never experience, not in the human sense at least. He'll never have lines on his face like Daniel does. His worry lines and smile lines will never deepen. He won't develop crow's feet from squinting in the sun, which turned its back on him long ago anyway. His hair will never grey. Marius made certain of that.

But Daniel got to have all of that. His beloved got to live his life, fuck it up over and over and make a million mistakes. He had the freedom and the agency to do it. Armand will not see it, but he gave Daniel exactly what was taken from him so long ago. He is not just evil. He does not destroy everything. He gave Daniel the real gift, and now they get to move onto the next stage of Daniel's life together (after a couple seasons of slow burn I would imagine).

Just as he sees the tragedy of his past on his own face, he sees the potential he has to be different on Daniel's. He has immortalised true beauty in Daniel. The beauty of having lived a long life.

Oh… That’s why.

I absolutely love stranger quests bc wdym the gang is on the verge of collapse, being chased by pinkertons, their found family is dying and falling apart, and then there's Arthur is on the other side of the country chasing a lion and recreating frankenstein.

WIP - The Vampire Armand

don't you guys love it when women

ARMAND IN EVERY EPISODE 1.05 A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart

I dearly love the trope in Devil’s Minion fics where Daniel’s daughters find Armand in his apartment and are immediately concerned that their father is some old creep dating a guy in his twenties. It’s never not funny.

But I started thinking how Armand might view this reaction.

He obviously expected it. To outsiders, his companionship with Daniel looks strange. But I can see him being oddly touched by their sincere concern for him. It would stick with him after they’d left and he wouldn’t immediately know why.

Then later it might hit him: so few people throughout his existence have noticed his age and tried to protect him. Noticed his age, yes, but it was never about keeping him safe. Quite the opposite, and he was much younger then.

Daniel would not harm him, could not harm him, like he’s been harmed before, but so few had ever attempted to intervene when Arun or Amadeo had been repeatedly hurt, if anyone had at all. Daniel could never do to him what had been done in the past, but even the casual worry and judgement from his girls leaves Armand with a sort of ache in his soul he can’t articulate.

There’s also the chance he wouldn’t realise why he felt like that at all. He’s not had the ability to unpack any of his trauma. He’s stuck in it, so the feeling, initially touching, turns to the usual emptiness that feels like a permanent part of him, except it’s deeper than it normally is. He doesn’t know that the feeling is actually a wistful longing for his previous selves to have felt even an ounce of that concern for his wellbeing.

every time i see this i start jumping for joy genuinely

made another one with Dutch